Sharing Classes between Separate Schools: a mechanism for improving inter-group relations in Northern Ireland?

One manifestation of division and the history of conflict in Northern Ireland is the parallel education system that exists for Protestants and Catholics. Although recent decades have seen some advances in the promotion of integrated education, around 95% of children continue to attend schools separated on ethno-religious lines. In 2007 a programme for sharing education was established. Underpinned by intergroup contact theory, and reflecting educational priorities shared by all school sectors, the programme seeks to offer children from different denominational schools an opportunity to engage with each other on a sustained basis. In this article the authors adopt a quantitative approach to examining the impact of participation in the Sharing Education Programme on a range of outcomes (out-group attitudes, positive action tendencies and out-group trust) via, first, intergroup contact (cross-group friendships) and, second, intergroup anxiety. Their findings confirm the value of contact as a mechanism for promoting more harmonious relationships, and affirm the Sharing Education Programme as an initiative that can help promote social cohesion in a society that remains deeply divided.

Do psychosocial factors moderate the association of fixed-term employment with work interference with family and sleeping problems in registered nurses: A cross-sectional questionnaire survey

Background: The use affixed-term employment has increased lately, particularly in Europe and in the health care sector. Previous studies have shown that especially among the health care sector employee's organizational justice perceptions and job control are important factors that are directly related to the welfare and attitudes of employees and may also help to buffer the negative impacts of many detrimental factors.

Interference between Competing Pathways in Atomic Harmonic Generation

We investigate the influence of the autoionizing 3s3p6nl resonances on the fifth harmonic generated by 200–240 nm laser fields interacting with Ar. To determine the influence of a multielectron response we develop the capability within time-dependent R-matrix theory to determine the harmonic spectra generated. The fifth harmonic is affected by interference between the response of a 3s electron and the response of a 3p electron, as demonstrated by the asymmetric profiles in the harmonic yields as functions of wavelength.

Domestic Violence and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights: Jessica Lenahan (Gonzales) v United States

On 21 July 2011 the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights issued its much awaited decision in the case of Jessica Lenahan (Gonzales) v United States. In a landmark decision the Commission found the United States of America to be in violation of the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man 1948 due to the failure of the state to protect a victim of domestic violence and her children. This paper analyses the Lenahan decision and its significance for the United States. In particular, the substantial influence of the case law of the European Court of Human Rights on the Commission’s reasoning is examined.

Hänsch--Couillaud locking of Mach--Zehnder interferometer for carrier removal from a phase-modulated optical spectrum

We describe and analyse the operation and stabilization of a Mach--Zehnder interferometer, which separates the carrier and the first-order sidebands of a phase-modulated laser field, and which is locked using the H\"ansch--Couillaud method. In addition to the necessary attenuation, our interferometer introduces, via total internal reflection, a significant polarization-dependent phase delay. We employ a general treatment to describe an interferometer with an object which affects the field along one path, and we examine how this phase delay affects the error signal. We discuss the requirements necessary to ensure the lock point remains unchanged when phase modulation is introduced, and we demonstrate and characterize this locking experimentally. Finally, we suggest an extension to this locking strategy using heterodyne detection.